1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to electronic communications across firewalls or poorly-connected computer networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Enterprise messaging requirements are evolving beyond traditional store-and-forward e-mail to integrate with the Web-based "browsing" model of corporate intranets. Moreover, existing messaging infrastructure is being extended beyond the enterprise to business partners, customers and suppliers. This requirement, however, conflicts with the enterprise's need to secure its network and information. This security is traditionally accomplished using a firewall.
Traditional client-server communication systems require a point-to-point network connection, such as TCP/IP or token ring, between the two parties to a network communication. If one of the parties is behind a network firewall, or if the two parties do not share a common point-to-point protocol, then a connection cannot be made. A similar problem also exists when two parties have a poor network connection.
The present invention addresses this problem.